I'm excited as all get out. Groundhogs are out and about now. One thing I've alway loved is hunting them and have been doing it since the 60s. It's never a slam dunk for me though, especially on my own property.
Let's hear some stories of how you guys hunt them, big farms, small farms, neighhood hogs, etc. Just like to hear some stories and maybe some pictures.
OH BOY, I used to live to hunt chucks. One year a friend and myself killed 160+ chucks. They were all gun kills. The thought of hunting them with trad gear sounds like fun. With a gun we just shot chucks. Not much of the hunting part was involved. Maybe this would be a great thing to do as a get together for the Michigan Traditional Bowhunters. The weather is pleasant and there is always action. This is a great thread and the timing is perfect as this is the beginning of the woodchuck showups. I'm pumped.
We have a huge one out in our barn. Atleast I saw it a couple of times last fall. It's tough because they can see us come out the back door before we see them and they are out of there!
One of my best shots was on a smallish one at 26 yds. But I could get into position without being seen and wait for them. They were living in a brush pile about 100 or so yds from the barn. I play the wind too. Don't know if it's necessary but it can't hurt.
Hunting Turkeys, Morels and Woodchucks,coming up on a fun time of the year.
Love chuckin' def gonna try with the bow this year. They're kinda dumb this time of year to from being under ground for so long. I plan on hunting them in small wood lots and hedge rows where I can locate active holes and wait them out.
I'm mainly talking about hunting them with bows. My wife makes me take a few out each year with the .22 but I save a few for bow targets which she thinks is ridiculous since I'm always outwitted.
Just last year I spied one from the kitchen window, grabbed the bow and quiver and snuck out the front door. Made a great stalk on him and I had him at 7 yards looking 90 degrees to my right but I'd have to step out from behind a tree to shoot. I stepped out, drew and let loose and WHAM! The arrow jumped to the left and stuck into a log at a crazy 45 degree angle. His head was superimposed on top of an old dirty discarded cinder block which I mistook for his body and center punched the cinder block. Oh well. Another defeat.
Another one I caught looking away from the house on a downslope in the field. I used the slope of the ground to get within 35 yards and a muhlberry tree to close the gap to 30 yards but the last 10 yards I had to skitter on my side using a large tuft of field grass. I couldn't believe this perfect set up. Everything was set and the hog was dozing looking away so I came up on one knee and let fly. Arrow looked good but at the last minute it bounced off of the top of his head. Drat.
"bounced off the top of his head". Cool visual there, and kinda funny.
"Bounced of his head" lol haha boy there's a way to wake up lol
we have a lot around the barn.....smart and wiley.....miss one a time or two and that one is rifle bait.....I have saw them stop and spot me from 75 yards away....but loads of fun to try and put an arrow through....
Have been bowhunting whistle pigs for quite sometime. A couple of other stickbow hunters and me usually have a competition every year. On a good year I'll shoot between 20 and 25.
They get very educated in a hurry. I find sneakers to make a huge difference in keeping them from "feeling" my foot steps. And once they learn danger is lurking they will use their nose quite well.
Hunting them in a gentle rain works really good for the educated ones.
Goodluck!, Jeff
I too love to hunt groundhogs. I enjoy it just as much as deer hunting. Here in Pa. it is still to cold and snowing all the time for them to be out much. I hunt a few local farms and I walk about 3 to 4 miles a night when I hunting. I like to stump shoot between holes and when I get close to a hole I try to stalk in on them. I average about 10 a year.I should have alot more a year but they jump the string quicker than a whitetail.
Hawkeye n PA and I do have a competition each year, and he regularly kicks my butt!
I hunted with the champ one time on his G-hog ranch and soon learned how he racks up the carcasses. I don't want to say his hogs are tame but the term "park squirrels" comes to mind. Hmmmmmmm.
Now my groundhogs are the true Russian strain from the old country. Their senses are sharp, they're meaner than my mother-in-law, and they'd rather eat you than run! Scary, nasty, beasts they are! I'm lucky to get half a dozen per year and live to tell about it.
I fondly remember the one year I beat ole Hawkeye. Seems the poor guy was burdened with lots of overtime while lucky me was laid off from June to mid August. I killed 36 that year with my Hummingbird recurve. I refer to that time as "The Summer Of Love". Ahhhhh, sweet victory.
anyone bait them? They're in my the shrubs and flower beds which are dense, so I'm thinking with bait it may get them out into a better shooting lane.
Oh man, groundhogs...that brings back GOOD memories! I used to be a big-time woodchuck hunter growing up in Ohio. My senior year in high school (1992) I killed an even 50 groundhogs with my recurve in an area where a good hand with a 22-250 would be hard pressed to get 100 in a year. I killed 5 in one day that summer. Dad always said if he was King of the World you'd have to bring him 20 groundhog tails you killed with your bow before you could buy a deer license. I learned more about how to hunt from bowhunting groundhogs in my formative years than any other animal.
Nowadays, where I live in Westcentral Indiana we don't have very many 'chucks. I suppose too many coyotes? I don't shoot them here, and have even been known to transplant a few that were caught in livetraps in local barns.
If you meet my wife ask her about the full grown 'chuck that ate his way out of the cardboard box in her car on the way home from the farmer. Let us just say that "hi-jinks ensued" on that one!
Love the 'chucks!
Ryan
I use to hunt a groundhogs a lot but like Ryan I think the coyotes and foxes have thinned them out. Usually average getting one a year now! :clapper:
Got a big old fat one I've been trying to get for 2 years. He's smart and roams from yard to yard in my suburban neighborhood, I can see him from the second floor of my home in my neighbors yards, eating apples that have fallen or a patch of clover. He is not easy to get close too. So last year I was patterning him pretty well and found he was passing under my tree stand out back, and hanging out under my shed. Well one morning I got out early and got in that stand and sure enough after a couple of hours he comes out from under the shed. He's maybe 10 yards away but a branch is in my way. So I wait and wait because he's just sitting real still and not moving, it must have been 20 minutes. Then he finally moves a little and stands straight up. I pull to full draw and release...... And I missed!!! I was certain I centerpunched him but no blood or hair on the arrow..... Nothing. And I haven't seen him since. Spooked him off, we are still real cold up north so I suspect I'll see them moving in the next few weeks. Can't wait....
I'm waiting for the muhlberrys to start falling. I call it groundhog cocaine.
I was in an alfalfa field sneaking up on groundhog when he saw me and ducked down into his hole. I had hunted them enough to know that he would come back out and look for me where he saw me last so I moved to the other side of his hole about 15 yards away and waited. I was hunting in cloth deck shoes and no socks and while standing there waiting for him to come out I was subconsciously annoyed by something when it dawned on me that something was bothering my foot. I looked down and realized that I was standing on the middle of a small black snake and he was wrapping and unwrapping around my ankle. I'm not afraid of snakes but...I must have jumped 3 feet vertically and my heart was running wide open. On top of that the groundhog had just come back out of his hole and all my commotion gave me away. Needless to say, the groundhog wasn't hurt any more than I was but he also wasn't nearly as shook up over the whole thing either!
I hunt them on a "pick your own" apple farm. Every year 3 or 4 fall to the bow while most are killed with a rifle. They're faster and a lot more agile than they look. I've seen them climb trees and jump over logs! An easy way to tell if a den is active is to look for flies buzzing around the opening. They urinate and defecate in their dens ....the filthy bastards! You can set up a blind near feeding areas. They are easiest to kill from above as I've never been "made" by a groundhog while in a stand.
My first trad kill was a ground grizz. I asked this farmer if I could hunt ghogs one summer, he said "kill em all". I pulled a Howatt Hunter outta my truck and he says "Where's your rifle?". I told him I was a bow hunter and I hunt everything with the bow and arrow. He told me I would never kill a ground hog with that thing. About an hour later I showed up on his porch with a dead one that was nearly decapitated by a Zwicky. I have had exclusive hunting on that property for about 12 years because of that.
I have hunted ground hogs for years with the bow. Great fun. I like to find areas with a lot of holes and multiple dogs and hang a tree stand. Builds patience and practice for the unpcoming deer season.
Put a stalk on one in the back yard yesterday but he caught my wind. I know where he lives though.
I haven't hunted them since my teens and early twenties (1960-1975)in Indiana. I found them terrific quarry and I learned a lot about using the sun, concealment, and using the critter's tendencies and habits to my favor.
The last one I killed was while on Spring Break from college. My baby brother was with me. That whistle pig was in a wide open alfalfa field. I put the afternoon sun at my back and crawled a few feet towards him every time his head was down. He caught the Wasp-tipped broadhead square in the teeth. Dead when he hit the ground.
I stopped hunting them for decades because they became relatively scarce in the areas I lived. I wouldn't even shoot one when I had an "easy" shot while deer hunting for that reason.
I see a lot more these days though and it wouldn't bother me to hunt them again.
One of my favorite "tricks" with groundhogs was to "force" them to use a particular burrow hole that I could wait in bow range near. I would hang a blown up balloon outside the entrance of the burrow I wasn't waiting by. This caused them to come out the other one. In fact, they'd come out the other burrow hole and look back at the balloon covered hole. Sometimes they have more than two holes though.
Sorry no pictures. We were scratching our hunting stories on cave walls in those days.
"Put a stalk on one in the back yard yesterday but he caught my wind. I know where he lives though."
Okay guys, let's hear your opinion – Is a groundhog's nose sensitive enough to wind you like a deer?
Growing up in Ohio, I too hunted and killed many a groundhog, but haven't hunted specifically for them for years, but they're still around. Have at least 2 living in my back yard right now but no desire to shoot them at this time... As I was once upon a time, a lot of varmint rifle folks around here are into it and know a guy who killed over 700 in one year, so he claimed... But back to the question – can a groundhog wind you???
I know they seem to have an uncanny sense you are about. Whether they are winding me or not I'll put what I think is the perfect stalk only to pop my head over the last piece of cover to find they have gone to ground.
I shot one while deer hunting once. It growled and rolled over a wide area until it died. As luck may have it a large buck came down the trail later, stopped just out of range and carefully backed out of the area. Since then I won't shoot them while deer hunting.
I have never seen evidence that they are sensitive to your scent, Hawkeye N PA says they most certainly are. He's killed way more than me so I have to believe him.
We're still dealing with winter here. I've been checking holes and have seen some early sign of breeding (males opening up dens to visit their girlfriends), but no sightings yet.
Serious grounhog hunters advise waiting until June when the young ones are weaned but here at my place I'm on a grounhog eradication program. On my 6 tiny acres the population remains constant despite 23 years of shooting them with bow and rifle.
You guys from Pennsylvania. Go and get Puxatawny Phil. What a bum weather forecast he made.
I don't know about winding you but I do know if you harass them enough they will spook at road traffic. I harassed one enough last summer when he seen my truck driving down the road he would head for his hole. They are smarter than people give them credit for I think.
(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq19/fnshtr/littletrophy.jpg)
I like to spot and stalk 'em. Especially a little later when the weeds are a bit taller. I shot this one with EVO... some might remember that pass around.
Another excellent method is to find the den. Sometimes you can glass them from a distance and see where the den is... then post up outside the den and wait. On a warm morning, it won't take long.
I'm going out in the morning myself!
Ya, I read that there is a bounty out for Phil's head.
Another Yea on Phil's head!!!!
Along time ago I posted a thread on a groundhogs ability to wind a hunter. A biologist replied and said in laymens terms that they have a great sniffer. But with the farmer in the field they don't usually pay much attention to human scent. That is, until you give them a reason.
I'd agree with the hogs seemingly lack of concern about human scent. I know I didn't pay any attention to it all when I was hunting them. It seemed the only thing that would spook them was movement.
One thing I did experience that bummed me. I hunted these critters hard one summer and found I could easily get within 100 yards of them without spooking them much -- they didn't get whizzing arrows until I was 20 yards or less. I think I conditioned them to short-range concern.
A neighbor took a .243 out to my hog grounds one weekend and destroyed them! Like shooting fish in a barrel he bragged.
Lots oh fun for sure can't wait to get out after'em this year. Might even try and put one in the crock pot for stew.
I see them while driving but very, very, Very seldom while out in the woods.
I know they can smell ya! But, if you have the wind right and they are preoccupied, you can sometimes cross open ground to get into range.
Stalked the same one again yesterday but he caught sight of my black hat. Gotta get sneakier now.
(http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy241/kbetts_01/CIMG0543-1.jpg)
There are some wide paths cut into the woods at a local resivoir to give access to the lake. The wide paths are all grass/clover covered so the rabbits and groundhogs love eating on those paths. The paths wind and turn a good bit, which should be perfect for stalking them. Going to get after it as soon as the weather turns warmer.
I usually kill one or two every year that dig under my barn or outbuildings.I can see them out in the yard from the house. I wait until an opportunity arises and then slip out and try and get the jump on them. Sooner or later they make a mistake and end up with a broad head threw their chest. You can always count on a broken arrow if you shoot wood.Tough little buggers.I don't usually hunt them however.
I have an ongoing war with this 1 woodchuck for 2 years now in the back yard. I spot him from the deck and the hunt begins.
I shot under him with a wensel woodsman twice and I shot over him once. Never got another shot as he takes off when I get close. He's a crafty SOB.
I refuse to use a gun on him. He deserves better as he has escaped my arrows all these times.
The battle continues........I named him "baldy" as I shaved his back and shaved his balls!
.....Philip
I shot under one once and he jumped up in the air. Upon retrieving the arrow I found hair and blood and he never showed himself again. I'm assuming I disembowled him.
Guess I'm a softie, Many Years ago I was hunting hogs with my buddy, he got one in the center of the body. The arrow was sticking out both sides and the hog was squealing and trying to get back down the hole but the arrow stopped him. I felt so sorry for him, we dispatched him with more arrows and never used the bow on hogs again. I used dads 303 Brittish or my 220 Swift from then on.
Yes, I always hate it when the first arrow doesn't kill a critter immediately.
I mentioned I try to eradicate them because they dig colonies of holes in the middle of my field which plays havoc with tractors and mowers. I don't have much mercy on them and if they crawl into their hole and die with an arrow through them so be it. One less.
I used to bowhunt them alot when I was younger. I would go out in early spring and scout for newly dug out holes. I would then later glass and stalk these locations. I can remember one year, when we didn't have much money for a family vacation, so I hunted them every evening for a solid week. If I recall I think I killed something like 8 or 9 groundhods that week. Sure was alot of fun and made for some nice eating. One of the tricks I learned that worked well for when I spotted them way out in a field, to open for a stalk. I would take the long shot and after the miss the groundhog would run for it's hole.I would then run as quickly as I could and get behind it's mound. Since the bow didn't make a loud noise like a gun the groundhog would soon start peeking out of it's hole and I would get a nearly point blank shot. Over time alot of groundhogs were done in with this trick. One time one of those long shots worked out. I killed one that I later stepped off at 55 yards. Another time a friend and I were crossing a farming lane into the next field. we spotted a groundhog running straight away from us. We both grabbed for an arrow and I was lucky enought to hit it in the back of the neck running at about 25 - 30 yards. I sure got a lot of fond memories of hunting groundhogs. I miss hunting them like I used to. They seem to be alot more scarace these days.
I killed my first "ground grizz" out of a mulberry tree when I was a kid. Not with a bow or gun but by hitting him several times with rocks. They can be very cunning.This may sound made up and you can believe me or not but I've seen them under mulberry tree's that have branches hangin out on the shoulder next to busy roads dropping mulberries, and the hog would lay on his side eating the berries acting like or making me think he was dead. The only way I'd find out he wasn't dead was when I slow down like I was going to stop and he would run back to cover. I think it's similar to the farmer on the tractor thing. :dunno:
http://s48.photobucket.com/user/bowzonly/media/IMG_0385427x640.jpg.html?sort=3&o=55# Love those Ghogs. I don't have the big bucks to hunt big bucks but if I have enough small game to chase I am quite satisfied. Ghogs have given me plenty of adventure and plenty of stories to tell. I have had woodchuck stories in TBM, BOWHUNTER and TRAD ARCHERS WORLD., and I still have enough material for at least one more.
Cool photos! Which TBM is your story in?
This thread got me itchy to get after them!
I checked the holes around the local woodlot this morning. It was 25 degrees and 3" snow with melted patches. Nothing.
I went back out in the afternoon, nice sunny 45 degrees. As I eased up to "The Pet Cemetary" (big mound of rotting cows, dirt, & manure-stinks when thawed out), a big ole smelly hog came a running up from the other side. It froze when it saw me and I proceeded to miss the rushed 10yd shot wide left! Crap! The hog dove in his hole and never came back out.
The arrow ended up buried to the fletch in the semi frozen mound. I pulled it out, sniffed it, and stuck it in the ground to let it air out a couple months. I usually can't bring myself to save an arrow after it gets shot into the cemetary. Whew!
This was my first sighting this year and my first shot of hopefully a great season. Hunting sod poodles is about the coolest thing you can do with a stickbow!
B.glass now you got me thinking. Actually I may have misspoke on that one. I have written a bunch for TBM (mostly small game) and I cant remember off the top of my head. I may be getting confused with a story I wrote for TBM called MORTAL COMBAT in which I mention ghog hunting. That photo in my last post is from a recent TRAD ARCHERS WORLD.
Hunting ground carp is the one critter that I willfully plan to crawl on my belly in the midst of burning sun, mud, biting bugs and flowing sweat.
Patience has offered many 5 and 10 yard shots. The 15 yard opportunities seem to work out best for me.
Also, frequently scout hogs movements over several days to strategize before making a 1st approach. Successful approaches, even with a miss, have proven to be most fulfilling.
Couple years ago I was standing on the escape hole,on the woods side of the fence line, as a large ground hog came running in out of the alfalfa. I shot in front of him and the arrow lodge in his hole. When he couldn't go down he came to the hole I was standing over. Was pretty intense for a little while, hard to shoot at your feet, let alone real quick!! I finally won the war but the barb wire cut me up some.
This has been a cool thread. Thanks for starting it reddogge!
I've been keeping an eye peeled for the big one I saw go into our barn last fall. We are about to get a big bunch of white stuff dumped on us so I don't think I'll be seeing him/her soon. I am developing a plan.
Anymore theories on groundhogs and the wind?
I have been seeing some Groundhogs hit on the road, so they are certainly out and about. This is one of my all time favorite things to do in the spring and summer. Now that I am retired, I can go after them more often now. Here is one short story from last year.
Tony
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=179;t=000107;p=1
Yeah, me too been seeing dead ones hit on the road for a couple weeks now, and the one under my deck was out feeding the day before yesterday.
Am sure the males have been out for a while now making their rounds...8^)
been seeing them here as well!! Have the bow in the truck everyday.
they are fun to stalk!!
chris <><
QuoteOriginally posted by b.glass:
This has been a cool thread. Thanks for starting it reddogge!
I've been keeping an eye peeled for the big one I saw go into our barn last fall. We are about to get a big bunch of white stuff dumped on us so I don't think I'll be seeing him/her soon. I am developing a plan.
Glad you are enjoying it. I am too since I have a love/hate relationship with them.
Whew! Thought I had killed this thread for a minute there! I'm good at that.
I have collected a few momentos over the past 25 years hunting them with the bow.
I have a collection of teeth I found around dens and runs, probably 8 or 9 so far. They are pretty cool and makes you wonder how all that tooth can be inside such a small head.
I also have a few special arrows I kept. I have the arrow that killed "Groundhogasauras", a monster hog who eluded me for 5 years. Also arrows from my 100th & 200th kill. Number 200 didn't resurface until a year later when a new hog cleaned out the den and pushed my arrow and some bones outside the den.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/GroundhogMagnusblunt.jpg)
(http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af125/wernerschmidt_photo/Groundhog007.jpg)
Here is a dirty pig that I arrowed a few springs ago.
Rumer has it that a cross between a woodchuck and a prarie dog has escaped from area 51. The WOOD DOG.
Planned on stalking some this week, but been fighting the stomach flu.
Texas does not have whistle pigs, alot of pigs though.
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w266/MGERARDI_2007/IMG00012-20110605-2055_zpscee4f0e1.jpg)
Some of these guys are educated and tough to get close to. I educated them over the years with near misses.
Nice shoot'n Mike! I like your arras too!
Thanks Bona.
Yeah, nice shooting Mike. Save some of those for the thunder chickens.